As the governor was announcing the end to the so-called SBAC test for high school juniors last week, the state’s largest teacher’s union asked the state to also work to change the test for grades three through eight.

The Connecticut Education Association called on Education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell to convene a new Mastery Examination Committee — created in June by lawmakers — as soon as possible.

“All indications are that this test is not a valid indicator of student knowledge and skills,” CEA President Sheila Cohen said at a news conference Thursday in Hartford “This situation is of paramount concern to teachers who want the Mastery Examination Committee to begin the critical work of investigating the fairness and validity of Connecticut’s testing program and to identify alternatives.”

The state Department of Education announced it is making SBAC results available to school districts within days. Because the new online test is much different than the Connecticut Mastery Test, and based on material students are just now learning, most are bracing for much lower scores.

Cohen said the test should be reworked to enable teachers to target instruction to individual student needs, enable educators to make sound curriculum and professional development decisions, and help parents to understand what their children know and are able to do.

“Unfortunately, SBAC does not meet those expectations or basic criteria for a testing program that produces useful and valid results about what students know and are able to do,” she said.

Nearly all of the 1,666 Connecticut K-12 teachers surveyed — 97 percent — said SBAC was not a useful indicator of school effectiveness. Ninety percent said SBAC took away significant time and resources from teaching and learning.

Forty percent of teachers in Alliance Districts — such as Bridgeport — reported “the majority of their students clearly gave up on the test and clicked through,” but only 15 percent of teachers in affluent school districts reported the same.

Sixty-four percent of teachers said SBAC’s accommodations for students with disabilities did not work well.

The new committee is expected to report out on a revised test in six months but has yet to convene.